In scanning laser devices, laser light is reflected off one or more scanning mirrors to generate a scanning pattern. For example, in scanning laser projectors, images are projected by scanning laser light into a pattern with a scanning mirror, with individual pixels generated by modulating the laser light. Similarly, laser depth scanners generate depth maps by scanning laser light into a pattern with a scanning mirror and measuring the laser light reflected back.
One issue with both scanning laser devices is the continuing need to reduce distortion in the scanning mirrors. Specifically, as a scanning mirror rotates forces are applied to the mirror and these forces can cause distortions in the mirror surface. Furthermore, as mirror rotation angles and/or speed has increased in modern devices the forces applied to the mirror have also increased. These increased forces can result in increased distortions in the mirror surface. When such distortions are large enough the resulting scanning pattern can be distorted and image quality can be noticeably reduced. Thus, there is a need for devices and methods for reducing the mirror distortion in scanning laser devices.